Marlins to promote four more players from Triple-A

CHICAGO – Four additional players will join the Marlins in time for Tuesday night's game at Wrigley Field.

Lefty starter Brian Flynn will arrive from Triple-A New Orleans ahead of his major league debut in Wednesday's series and nine-game road trip finale. Also joining him from the Zephyrs, who completed their season Monday, are right-handed reliever Arquimedes Caminero, catcher Rob Brantly and lefty Brad Hand.

Among the players the Marlins received from the Tigers in last season's Anibal Sanchez/Omar Infante deal, Flynn split the last five months between Double-A Jacksonville and New Orleans, going a combined 7-12 with a 2.63 ERA, 43 walks and 147 strikeouts in 161 innings.

Caminero was up briefly last month, making four appearances and allowing a run on two hits (one homer) with a walk and four strikeouts over four innings.

Brantly returns after a three-week stint with the Zephyrs. He took a .186/.219/.271 slash line over 70 Triple-A at-bats into Monday's season finale. Marlins' minor league catching coordinator Clint Sammons will be with the big league club the next couple of weeks to continue working with Brantly.

A starter with the Zephyrs, Hand for the time being will work out of the bullpen.

Mike Dunn striking out guys isn't a new development. Coming into this season he could boast 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings during his 130-inning major league career.

Lately, that figure has been off the charts. The Marlins' primary left-handed reliever, Dunn in 21 2/3 innings since July 8 has struck out 12.5 batters per nine. From the start of the season through July 7, his strikeout numbers were down to 8.5 per nine (37 innings).

"A lot of it probably has to do with the slider," Dunn said. "For a long time my slider was more of a cutter. I was throwing it 88-91. We worked on my grip a little bit to get it down to 85-87 so there was a bigger separation between my fastball and my slider. The slider was more side-to-side than having depth. Now that [the velocity] is back down I'm getting more depth and giving that front-to-back look, too."

When Dunn throws the slider also is a factor. Opposing hitters can't count on seeing his mid- to upper-90s fastball on fastball counts. Jordan Schafer saw that in Atlanta last weekend. He took a 3-1 slider for a strike and swung through a fastball.

Dunn also is featuring a curve to right-handed hitters that's helped him get ahead in the count. It also keeps them off his fastball.

"Guys are more surprised when they see it," he said. "I've been throwing it for strikes, not really as a chase pitch. I've been throwing and I've thrown a couple late in counts where it just freezes guys."